


Ain't That Hard

by CloveeD



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Baker!Bucky, Ducks, Fanart, Identity Porn, M/M, Secret Identity, frustrated duck feeding, just say hi Bucky it's not that hard, no but it's the hardest ok, stupid villains keep interrupting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-15 02:32:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9214934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CloveeD/pseuds/CloveeD
Summary: Bucky doesn't know what it is about this sleepy donut-and-caffeine addict that gives him an intense desire to see the sleepy man wobble home just to make sure he's okay and fed and warm and not falling into ditches somewhere, even though Steve insists that in this century New York no longer has the sort of ditches along the streets that you could fall and drown in. The ducks in the pond across the street celebrate getting fed a lot lately as step 3 of James "Bucky" Buchanan Barnes' emotion management procedure. (Steps 1 and 2 involve calming down and talking to the source of frustration, which is just too hard.)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kakushigo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kakushigo/gifts).



Bucky didn't know what it was about this sleepy donut-and-caffeine addict that gave him an intense desire to see the sleepy man wobble home just to make sure he's okay and fed and warm and not falling into ditches somewhere; even though Steve insisted that in this century New York no longer had the sort of ditches along the streets that you could fall and drown in.

Since Steve (as though coaxing an injured stray dog, hands in front of him to signal no harm and tone of voice soft, making Bucky want to shove two metal fingers up the blonde's nostrils and assure Steve that Bucky knew how to use a smartphone when Steve was still imitating Han Solo) brought Bucky back to live in the completely changed Brooklyn, and opened up this coffee shop as part of an attempt to reintegrate themselves, Bucky had rolled his sleeves up (like he did with his three sisters and Steve back in the days) and automatically started baking.

It was a nice set-up to enjoy some peace and quiet - Bucky stuck to the kitchen behind the counter, and Steve owned the place and dealt with the interior design and all that fuss, and some kids hired from the neighborhood manned the store front. They weren't bad kids, slap an apron on them and you'd almost miss the tattoos and lip-rings*.

("The Old Days," Bucky repeated after Steve with a judging squint, "You're acting like you're 90."

"I am 92."

"Wow, no." Bucky turned back to glazing his puff pastries. 

"Café Yesterday." 

"We're neither French nor poets."

"Soldiers' Café." 

"What." 

"Blues." 

"Still sad, but better." 

"I was thinking patriotic." 

"Go back to art school, punk.")

(Steve did start to paint again, and Bucky proudly put the frames up inside their coffee shop while the paint was still wet.)

 

It wasn't bad. 

Baking was something that relaxed Bucky - it used to shut the kids (sisters and Steve) up, and now it kind of shut some spinning thoughts up in Bucky's head. Steve had money now (the Avengers' hazard pay apparently was really high, and Iron Man kept asking why Bucky wasn't using his black card and was this a Great Depression thing because that's not how credit cards work Buckaroo), and got the two of them a nice spot in Brooklyn that was across a neat little park with a pond in it. Bucky liked to go across the street and perch by the pond and feed the ducklings there leftover rolled oats or corn flour pellets (Google said that bread ain't natural for ducks, and Bucky always fed his kids the best things he could find.) It was relaxing. 

Since Caffeine-and-Donut-Addict began gracing their coffee shop one morning, looking like he'd never seen the rising sun before in his entire life, however, baking became a little less relaxing, and more ' _that can't be healthy? should I use low-fat and low-sugar next time? should take the sugar cube bowl away from him next time? he's gonna kill himself with sugar one day and it'll be my fault._ ' 

Caffeine-and-Donut-Addict apparently had quite the experienced taste-buds, and could tell every time Bucky tried to do something different with his pastries. Caffeine-and-Donut-Addict would stuff his face sleepily with the donut first, sagging into his favourite chair and coffee table by the window, prying open his coffee cup, and then make a noise, looking like a startled chipmunk. "Hey, what d'you do to your donuts today?" Caffeine-and-Donut-Addict would say, and then proceed to add more sugars to his coffee as though to make up for the lack in the donut. Caffeine-and-Donut-Addict looked like he did work out, granted, but nobody should be adding that much sugar into their consumption the first thing in the morning, especially given the way Caffeine-and-Donut-Addict wobbled whenever he came into the shop, big brown eyes almost completely shut as he asked for his usual order at the counter.

This worried Bucky to no end. 

The ducks in the pond across the street celebrated getting fed a lot lately as step 3 of James "Bucky" Buchanan Barnes' emotion management procedure. (Steps 1 and 2 involve calming down and talking to the source of frustration, which was just too hard.)  

 

~

 

Tony's new favourite thing was -- in equal parts frustrating, by the way -- to get up at 6AM in the morning (!!) (Pepper was astounded that one time she found out when calling Tony from Beijing on urgent business), slow-jog over to this coffee shop that he recently found, hog some freshly fried pastries and coffee, and watch James "Bucky" Buchanan Barnes appear across the street like some sort of rare animal sighting - The Winter Soldier Feeding Baby Ducklings.JPG. 

Ever since Steve took Bucky back to the Avengers to reintegrate the poor guy into the modern society, complete with basic human rights, Tony'd been slowly but steadily bribing his way closer toward that prosthesis of Bucky's, in order to put his hands on the gorgeous tech. He'd been succeeding. The Winter Soldier was a lot less talkative than most, maybe it was just around Tony, he wasn't sure, but that was okay, Tony could have a conversation with the laboratory vents when alone sometimes, inanimate objects had not failed him yet. 

Tony could even say lately that the Winter Soldier had began to finally warm up to him a little. Perhaps this was because the Iron Man suit that Tony interacted with the Avengers in was, as Tony assured, an advanced prosthesis, and so was the power source arc reactor, so sometimes, when the Winter Soldier mumbled something that wasn't 'report', 'mission successful', or 'maintenance required', Tony counted it a win. Bucky even said 'thanks' to Tony on a Tuesday, after Tony enthusiastically installed a mini-rocket launcher in a compartment of the metal arm. 

So, appreciating The Winter Soldier Feeding Baby Ducklings.JPG, Tony decided to not tell anybody else on the team about this rare animal sighting that he ~~deserved~~ spotted, and selfishly hoarded this Natural Geographic documentary view to himself every morning. He bet those ducklings were getting fat, with the way the Winter Soldier was feeding them methodically, every duckling lined up like teacup-sized Winter Soldiers with yellow fuzz. He wondered where Bucky went after these feeding sessions, and restrained himself (miraculously) from putting his suit on to follow the Winter Soldier to find out. Steve had brought Bucky to live somewhere in Brooklyn, obviously appreciating some privacy and distance from what they considered to be work at the Tower, which, _fine_ , understandable. Tony just never imagined the Winter Soldier would be----well, like  _this_ in private. 

Fuck, it was adorable. 

And Cap wasn't here to dictate Tony's inner cussing. 

But Cap was calling for the Avengers to Assemble. Again. 

That cockblock. 

 

~

 

The signaled assembly location was alarmingly close by - not two steps out of the coffee shop, Tony fell to the ground from what felt like an earthquake. Not two blocks down, something exploded.

Steve had not been in the store that day, so as soon as Bucky shooed the store front kid to hide under a solid cover, he looked up through the cracked store front windows and saw that Caffeine-and-Donut-Addict had fallen down. Bucky dashed out, just as Caffeine-and-Donut-Addict threw an arm out in the air, as though grasping for something that wasn't there. There wasn't time to parse out the details, "Don't stay out in the open, get inside---" Bucky began, perhaps harsher than he meant to in the crisis situation - Caffeine-and-Donut-Addict couldn't walk a straight line on a regular day, Bucky could think of 52 different ways that Caffeine-and-Donut-Addict could get killed in seconds out here. 

Tony boggled at Bucky, who, after disappearing from Duck Pond earlier, somehow dashed out from inside the coffee shop that Tony had just left from the front door, and was now covering Tony with his own body.  _Well, now we're in trouble,_ Tony thought weakly, lamenting his meticulously kept Iron man identity, just as his summoned Iron Man armour jetted toward his outstretched arm, and clipped onto his hands and forearm, just as alien shots fired in their direction from the east corner. Tony didn't have time to explain, only nearly missing that dumbfounded look (another for Winter Soldier Rare Expressions PNG pack) on Bucky's face. Tony raised his gauntlet, and fired back. 

"Er, right. Hi. Buckaroo. Fancy meeting you here. I, uh, am Iron Man." 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Happy holidays TheOneWhoWantsForgotten! I tried to hook up as many prompts as I could from your list, though the writing part here is more headcanons for this verse rather than an actual ficlet.... The art is my virgin attempt at Marvel fanart... Still hope you like your Winterironholidayexchange present! :D  
> *Perspectives of men from the 40s will be perspectives of men from the 40s  
> **Art: Background heavily edited from a real photo, because who knows how to draw places psshh  
> ***Image site died on me so using the small version on Tumblr for now!


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